Saturday, January 31st, 2015

Six members of the Buffalo Bills’ Super Bowl teams from the early 1990s—quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receivers Andre Reed and James Lofton, defensive end Bruce Smith and coach Marv Levy—have all been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Later this year, they will be joined in Canton by the man who helped bring them all together.

Bill Polian, who was the Bills’ pro personnel director from 1984-85 and their general manager from 1986-92, will be one of eight members of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015, which was announced Saturday. He is one of the first two Hall of Famers, along with former Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf, to be inducted through the Hall of Fame’s new category for contributors who did not play or coach the game.

Sunday, August 3rd, 2014

Andre Reed’s nine-year wait to join the most prestigious club in football officially came to an end Saturday night, when the legendary NFL wide receiver was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.(more…)

Friday, August 1st, 2014

“My dad was a construction worker and my mom worked in a factory and I was just a little kid that never combed his hair that loved to play football and play sports.”

Andre Reed never dreamed as a kid that he would make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. An Allentown, Pa. native who played his college football at Kutztown University in Division II, Reed wasn’t supposed to become one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history. But he always strived to make the most of his opportunities.

Anniversaries are an occasion for reflection, an opportunity to take a look back at something and see how much you’ve grown or how far you’ve fallen. For the Buffalo Bills, the 20th anniversary of their last Super Bowl appearance seems to be a cause to reflect on the two decades of futility since that have seen only five winning seasons.

That said, when comparing the current team to the team that won its fourth consecutive AFC championship 20 years ago, it seems the current incarnation of the Bills might not be as far off from success as many believe.

Let’s look at the basic facts first. The 1993 Buffalo Bills finished the regular season 12-4. They beat the Los Angeles Raiders in the divisional playoff round and the Kansas City Chiefs in the conference championship game before falling 30-13 to the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl (which I was at, for the record, making it even more heart-breaking).